1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tripod head including a cylindrical housing having a connection element at one end for a tripod, a ball joint displaceably arranged in the housing, a bearing element for supporting the ball joint which is axially displaceable in the housing, and a device for fixing the ball joint and which is arranged below the bearing element.
2. Description of the Prior Art
DE 22 03 196 discloses a tripod head which has a cylindrical housing with a bottom part for fastening to a tripod and with a rotatably arranged upper part, a ball joint which is supported in a housing so as to be freely rotatable and swivelable, and a fixing arrangement with a clamping part for the ball joint, a fixing member, and a set screw for pressing the ball joint against the upper part to achieve a clamping action.
The tripod head is disadvantageous, particularly in large-format cameras, in that the required clamping action cannot be applied to the ball joint when the image carrier or objective carrier is tilted and an optical instrument is not held so as to be free of vibrations, and in that the functional features of rotating and fixing the ball joint are carried out by the fixing arrangement as a whole.
An object of the invention is to provide a tripod head in which the drawbacks of the prior art tripod heads, such as disclosed in DE 22 03 196, are eliminated.